Peg Leg wrote:How do the WRu make more than us? Surely the provinces feed into the Irfu books no?

4th out of window AI is a big money spinner in attendance and TV revenue I'd imagine. Think it's about 4m. Also if you have a look at the breakdown the concerts etc netted about 4m in hospitality.

To put it in perspective, the average attendance for a Welsh game at the Principality is probably higher than the Dragons entire attendance for a season.

Grand, but do the IRFU not receive revenue from the p14 & HEC wins, the qtr final of the HEC & the final of the p14?Do the IRFU not receive money for gigs in D'Viva?How much is the prize and sponsor pay out for all of the above & a grand slam?Like Wales are shite like, ...?

The WRU have more events and play more matches and own their own stadium. More matches and more events means they've also higher expenses than the IRFU but it's still obviously good for them that they are making more profit. Still, they do seem to be desperate to play as many matches as possible.

I'd say the IRFU are doing alright. They raised €70m in 2010 selling 5,000 10 year premium tickets. That went to clear the stadium debt. In 2020 those tickets will be freed up. I'm not an expert on it so feel free to correct me.

Peg Leg wrote:Grand, but do the IRFU not receive revenue from the p14 & HEC wins, the qtr final of the HEC & the final of the p14?Do the IRFU not receive money for gigs in D'Viva?How much is the prize and sponsor pay out for all of the above & a grand slam?Like Wales are shite like, ...?

Yeah they do but so do the WRU. They actually get all the revenue from Judgement day as well and distribute a fee to the teams. It's actually a money spinner for them. So technically they (leaving out the minnow AI for both) have two more games than the IRFU. If You check the accounts the big difference is the 8-9m they make in hospitality from match day income and events. Aviva is a stadium company and doesn't host as many events.

The prize and sponsor payout is a bit of a double edged sword because the players have to get paid as well. You can probably hedge it but if you've won it twice and the lowest you've finished in the last 5 years is third that aint gonna be cheap.

WORLD CUP - This week in Sydney, while the World League project has met a real consensus among the major nations of the sport, it is especially the prospect of pocketing additional TV rights that could allow it to see the day from the 2020 season.

One more step towards the World League! The World Rugby Steering Committee met in Sydney all week long to think about " exploring competition models in accordance with the principles agreed in San Francisco to give more weight to the international windows of July and November, " the statement said. first information. The international federation decided not to touch the international periods whereas in the project of World League defended by Agustin Pichot , the niche of the summer no longer existed.

By November and a future meeting planned in Dublin on the subject, the project's " task force" has been asked to focus on a competition played in two stages instead of test-matches. With the start of the qualifying phase taking place in the Southern Hemisphere in July and the semi-finals and final and classification matches in November in the Northern Hemisphere. The principle of a unity of place for the three knockout matches is retained. For the first year in 2020, the first two of the 6 Nations and those of the Rugby Championship would compete for the first trophy while the other countries ranked three to six in the Tournament and two of the Four Nations plus Japan and the United States. United would compete to determine a ranking.Augustin Pichot (Vice-President) and Bill Beaumont (President) of World Rugby

The twelfth would then be relegated to the second division of World League. If the format is yet to be refined economically, the project is moving forward more quickly. World Rugby had asked a TV rights agency to estimate a possible price for such a competition. The agency, after an audit, advocated a global pooling of rights to broadcast international games outside the World Cup. According to her, if all countries and competitions put their rights in common (including that of 6 Nations and Rugby Championship), World Rugby could hope to sell a total of between 800 million and a billion!

This would allow nations to get a real bonus over what they currently perceive. Thus Argentina receives only 8 million euros when the other nations of the South receive 24 million a year, France a little more than 30 million euros. The World League should therefore allow the International Rugby Federation to see its revenues increase. It is also a condition sine qua non for it to emerge.

Rugby union is poised for its most radical change since it became a professional sport as it prepares for the launch of the most significant global competition since the World Cup was first played in 1987.

World Rugby, the governing body led by chairman Bill Beaumont, has approved a new inter-hemisphere competition that would take place in the autumn and spring Test windows in November and July. It could begin as soon as 2020 if sponsors, broadcasters and other commercial backers can be found quickly enough.

Several formats have been suggested but The Sunday Times understands that the most popular is a 12-team competition that would be split into two divisions. There would be six teams from each hemisphere — England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales from the north, and South Africa, Australia, Argentina and New Zealand from the south, plus most likely Japan and Fiji.

There would also be a second division, with promotion and relegation between the top flight, a significant move that would give Tier 2 nations the chance to burst on to the world stage. Tier 1 teams would have to play away in Tier 2 territories in league play, something they have so rarely done. The second flight would include the likes of Georgia, Romania, Spain, United States, Russia, Tonga and Samoa, with China and Germany contending because of the attraction of their powerhouse economies.

Matches would be played in the autumn and spring, with European teams playing southern hemisphere opponents in the regular season. There would be semi-finals and a grand final. The tournament would probably take place annually for three years, leaving the fourth clear for the World Cup. There is another option in which each tournament would last for three years.

The competition would put an end to tours by individual countries, though the Lions concept would remain sacrosanct. Significantly, it is not clear if the new competition would lead to a reduction in the number of Tests matches — something senior World Rugby figures such as Brett Gosper and Gus Pichot, chief executive and vice-chairman respectively, plus the players’ unions, have called for.

The decades-long suppression of smaller rugby nations would become a thing of the past. Final agreement on the outline plans was given by all nations at what was described by delegates in Sydney last week as a “harmonious” gathering — another first for the world game.

Rugby union is poised for its most radical change since it became a professional sport as it prepares for the launch of the most significant global competition since the World Cup was first played in 1987.

World Rugby, the governing body led by chairman Bill Beaumont, has approved a new inter-hemisphere competition that would take place in the autumn and spring Test windows in November and July. It could begin as soon as 2020 if sponsors, broadcasters and other commercial backers can be found quickly enough.

Several formats have been suggested but The Sunday Times understands that the most popular is a 12-team competition that would be split into two divisions. There would be six teams from each hemisphere — England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales from the north, and South Africa, Australia, Argentina and New Zealand from the south, plus most likely Japan and Fiji.

There would also be a second division, with promotion and relegation between the top flight, a significant move that would give Tier 2 nations the chance to burst on to the world stage. Tier 1 teams would have to play away in Tier 2 territories in league play, something they have so rarely done. The second flight would include the likes of Georgia, Romania, Spain, United States, Russia, Tonga and Samoa, with China and Germany contending because of the attraction of their powerhouse economies.

Matches would be played in the autumn and spring, with European teams playing southern hemisphere opponents in the regular season. There would be semi-finals and a grand final. The tournament would probably take place annually for three years, leaving the fourth clear for the World Cup. There is another option in which each tournament would last for three years.

The competition would put an end to tours by individual countries, though the Lions concept would remain sacrosanct. Significantly, it is not clear if the new competition would lead to a reduction in the number of Tests matches — something senior World Rugby figures such as Brett Gosper and Gus Pichot, chief executive and vice-chairman respectively, plus the players’ unions, have called for.

The decades-long suppression of smaller rugby nations would become a thing of the past. Final agreement on the outline plans was given by all nations at what was described by delegates in Sydney last week as a “harmonious” gathering — another first for the world game.

The 6 nations?

Devalued along with the world cup.

I'm not sure what to make of it. It's certainly southern hemisphere led and will give them a massive boost. That's why they want to package it.

Six Nations cash will drop to just £6m as rugby’s sponsorship market shows signs of declinePosted on October 2, 2018

By Peter JacksonThe Six Nations are resigned to taking another hefty hit this season over the depreciating value of their title sponsorship.

Last year the Unions running the tournament rejected an offer of £14m-a-year from RBS after Scotland and Wales objected, claiming the event was worth more. Within months the value had shrivelled by a third to £9m. Now it has fallen again, by as much as a third.

Tournament organisers are ready to accept £6m for this year’s 15 matches.

Only 18 months ago they believed their title sponsorship was worth £100m over six years, the equivalent of £16.6m a year.

Despite talking to more than 100 multi-national companies none was prepared to come anywhere near the RBS £14m. It triggered a chain of events which ended with the resignation of the man who had helped build the tournament into a roaring commercial success, chief executive John Feehan.

The Six Nations are far from alone in feeling the chill wind of a volatile market. The Champions’ Cup has also suffered from a spectacular devaluation in title sponsorship.

When the clubs wrenched control of the Heineken Cup from the national Unions in 2014, the Dutch beer company was paying £10m-a-year.

The English and French clubs, backed by the four Welsh regions, believed their competition had been under-sold. They wanted six elite sponsors paying £3m each but failed to raise anywhere near the projected £18m.

Heineken stayed in at £3m as one of the few. Now that the organisers, EPCR, have changed their policy, Heineken have been restored as sole sponsors but at £5.5m a year almost half the price they had been paying four years ago.

The English domestic game has also suffered. Aviva extended their sponsorship of the Premiership last year at a reduced rate before being succeeded by another insurance company, Gallagher.

He is not surprised at the decline. “This has nothing to do with Brexit,’’ he said. “The world has changed. The market has changed in a big way accordingly and it probably affects rugby more than any other sports.

“The objectives of sponsors are not necessarily about brand-awareness and exposure as they used to be. Most brands want more connectivity with their consumers.

“The Champions’ Cup was doing very well with its title sponsor when it decided to go down the Champions’ League football route of six-to-eight elite sponsors.

“The football competition delivers massive media coverage on a pan-European scale with advertising guarantees around it. It is very difficult to sell a (rugby) competition which has a limited geography.’’

You know I'm going to lose,And gambling's for fools,But that's the way I like it baby, I don't want to live FOREVER!